New Scottsdale condo-commercial complex slated for downtown parcel

A mixed-use complex with high-end condominiums and retail-office space is slated to be built on vacant land near downtown Scottsdale’s Hotel Valley Ho.

A rezoning request for El Dorado on First was submitted to the city last week by North American Development Group. It would be built on the southeastern corner of First Street and El Dorado Lane, west of Goldwater Boulevard.

The current zoning allows multifamily residential and light office, and the rezoning would expand that to include retail, said Dan Symer, senior city planner.

The three-story building will include seven condominium units and 4,500 square feet of street-front commercial space. The design team includes North American Development and Will Bruder Architects.

“The goal of the project is to help to rejuvenate downtown Scottsdale with pedestrian-friendly residential and commercial uses to support the civic and business attractions in the immediate area, and to add to the variety of housing options in an effort to populate this mature area of the city,” said Chris Chamberlain of North American Development’s Arizona office.

Bruder said the project is unlike any other residential complex in the downtown area. The design team ensured that every unit has multiple views of surrounding mountainscapes, he said.

“This is something that has a generosity of scale in that they are three-level (condominiums) with a rooftop amenity served not only by a spiral staircase, but each unit has a personal elevator,” said Will Bruder, president and principal of Will Bruder Architects. “The proportion and scale of each unit will make them feel like a custom home.”

The complex will feature an art-gallery entrance leading to the residential units, he said.

The project is geared to people who want to live near arts and culture, restaurants and other downtown amenities, and close to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Bruder said.

“We found a missing niche in the market ... for people who like to entertain, have art collections and an indoor-outdoor lifestyle,” he said.

Bruder previously designed the Loloma 5 condominium complex on Marshall Way, as well as other infill projects in Scottsdale.

North American Development and Bruder are anticipating construction to start next spring with the units available in January 2015.

North American Development has seven offices in the United States and five offices in Canada. It owns more than 14 million square feet of shopping centers in the United States and Canada, including several centers in the Valley.

The acreage formerly housed single-family homes, but they were removed, Symer said. Prior to the recession, another developer, 169 LLC, had received approval to build a multifamily complex on the site, he said.

The complex, titled First Street Townhomes/First and 69th, never materialized, he said.

El Dorado on First is now in the first-review phase of the city’s planning-approval process, and hasn’t yet been scheduled for consideration by the Planning Commission, Symer said.

The complex would be located east of the Standard at Valley Ho, a 135-unit apartment complex to be built at the southwestern corner of 69th and Main streets. It will include a single three-story building that will wrap around a center courtyard with pool.

Scottsdale-based P.B. Bell, which also developed the Desert Parks Vista multifamily complex at D.C. Ranch, will build the Standard at Valley Ho. The site originally was planned for townhouses, and then Westroc Hotels & Resorts, which owns the Valley Ho, planned to expand the hotel.

P.B. Bell plans to break ground on the Standard at Valley Ho in December with the first units available for occupancy in late 2014.

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